March 30, 2019- LaFollette, TN-- 226 boats rolled into LaFollette on Saturday morning for the 2nd stop of the 2019 Morristown Marine Team Tournament Trail. The weather was great, with a warm, overcast start, plenty of sunshine later and around noon, strong winds picked up, making for rough water and limiting available techniques. The fishing was moderately tough, as we only had 117 teams- roughly half the field- weighing in fish. There was a total of 438 mixed largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass weighed, totaling 1,095.06 lbs of fish weighed and successfully released back into beautiful Norris Lake. We paid back 38 places, which required 11.66 lbs to get a check.

Leading the pack were Joey Soloman and Daniel Taylor, both of Elizabethton, TN, with a great mixed bag weighing 19.35 lbs. After weigh in, Daniel said they caught their better fish on a custom Alabama rig with hand-poured swimbaits. Joey and Daniel took home a check of $10,000.00 for their efforts.

Squeezing in on a very close 2nd place was Neil Hunwick and Don Southern, of Rural Retreat and Pulaski VA, with a total weight of 19.28 lbs and earned a check for $3,550.00.

3rd place went to Hunter Hamilton and Ty Ball from Church Hill and Rogersville, TN with a 16.07 lb bag. In addition, Hunter and Ty also took home Highest Finishing Skeeter Contingency Money, for a total payday of $5,550.00! Just another example of how it pays to fish from a Skeeter.

Coming in 4th was John Smith and Tyler Faulkner of London and Corbin KY, with a 16.07 bag anchored by a 4.67 largemouth. Their 4th place finish got them a check for $1,550.00 and they received 2nd Highest Finishing Skeeter Contingency of $1,500.00 along with the Enigma Fishing Bonus of $200.00 for a total payday of $3,250.00.

Closing out the top 5 was Michael Miniard and Richard Munsey from Harlan,KY and Maynardville, TN with a total bag of 15.51 lbs and a check for $1,050.00.

The Citizens Bank Big Smallmouth was awarded to Scott & Vance Berrier with a very nice 4.18 lb football of a brown fish. Congrats guys!

Highest finishing Gray Fox Insurance Contingency payout went to Keith McDeerman/Von Dilbeck, Jack Faulkner/Ronnie Carey and Travis Wormsley/John Carroll, Sr. We only pay the 2 highest finishers here, but we made a mistake entering the information into the tournament software and missed Wormsley/Carroll, Sr on this payout. Once we discovered our mistake, we simply paid out all three. That one’s on us, Travis. Thank you for understanding and letting us fix our error! Each of these teams took home an extra $250, just for insuring with Randy Heatherly and the gang at Gray Fox Insurance! Get a quote from Randy today and get eligible for this contingency program before South Holston!

The 2019 Enigma Fishing Bonus paid out $200 to John Smith & Tyler Faulkner for having purchased 2 Enigma rods. They got an additional $200 check, simply for using a high quality rod. A new part of our Enigma Bonus for 2019 is the reward for highest finisher out of the money. This tournament’s winner was Rodney Craddock & Chad Waddell. They won 2 new rods and 2 very sharp Enigma Fishing hats. Enigma Fishing: Cast.Catch.Repeat.

The 2019 Morristown Marine Bonus Bucks Program paid out 4 places Saturday, with Highest Finishing New Boat winner Taylor Watkins taking home a $1,500.00 check and 2nd Highest Finishing New Boat winner Clifford Bunch taking home a $1,000.00 check. These gentlemen purchased a new boat from Morristown Marine in calendar year 2018 OR 2019 to qualify for this bonus. Also, Bobby Chambers took home the Highest Finishing Used Boat check of $500.00 and Greg Scott got 2nd Highest Finishing Used Boat for an additional $250.00. Thank you guys for choosing Morristown Marine for your boat purchase.

Highest Finishing Skeeter Bonus was awarded as follows:

1) Hamilton/Ball $3,000.00

2) Smith/Faulkner $1,500.00

3) Wormsley/Carroll, Sr $1,000.00

4) McDeerman/Dilbeck $800.00

5) O’Quinn/O’Quinn $700.00

6) Ownby/Lusk $500.00

7) Faulkner/Carey $250.00

8) Watkins/Eakens $200.00

9) Roberts/Nidiffer $150.00

10) Chambers/Smiley $100.00

Morristown Marine would also like to thank Yamaha, Skeeter Boats, Citizens Bank, B&M Tire, Shotcrete, Taylor Battery-Deka, The Campbell County Chamber of Commerce, The Campbell County Sherriff’s Office, Gray Insurance Agency, Jerry’s Bait Shop, Cumberland Gap Spring Water, Old Stage Printing and B&H Sales. Without the support of our sponsors, this tournament trail could not exist. Please help show your thanks by supporting these businesses. We would also like to thank RK Smokin’ Pig BBQ out of Cumberland Gap, TN for catering the delicious BBQ & slaw! Look for their Orange & White food truck or ask them to cater your next event.

The next stop on the 2019 Morristown Marine Trail will be South Holston Lake out of Observation Knob Park on Saturday, April 20th. We will begin taking registrations Monday April 15th at Morristown Marine as well as being on-site Friday April 19th to take registrations at the ramp from 10am-5pm.